A prior art plastic card described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,678 of Apr. 6, 2004, which has electrical contacts and an embedded microcircuit, is designed to be inserted into a port of an external reading device. The prior art card (closest prior art of the first embodiment of this invention) is disadvantageous because it requires an intermediate reading device to be inserted into the USB interface of a computer.
Another prior art plastic (memory) card disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,718 of Apr. 26, 2005, which has electrical contacts and an embedded microcircuit, is designed to be inserted into the interface socket of an external reading device, in particular, the USB interface of a computer. The prior art memory card (closest prior art of the first embodiment of this invention) is disadvantageous because its portion intended for insertion into a USB interface has a thickness differing from that of the remaining portion of the card, creating inconveniences when the memory card is used, for example, as a visiting card or as a storage card.
Yet another plastic card described in International Application WO 2005/124932 of Dec. 29, 2005, has electrical contacts and an embedded microcircuit and can be folded and inserted in a folded state into the interface socket of an external reading device. The prior art card (closest prior art of the first embodiment of this invention) is disadvantageous because its electrical contacts are not resilient enough when inserted into the interface socket of the external reading device and cannot ensure a reliable contact fit. Another disadvantage of the prior art card is that its applications are restricted by its lateral dimensions, that is, the card cannot be wider than the socket of the matching interface of the external reading device.
The plastic card described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,678 of Apr. 6, 2004, has electrical contacts and an embedded microcircuit on one side of the card made in the form of a strip to be inserted into the interface of an external reading device. The card (which is the closest prior art of the second embodiment of this invention) is disadvantageous because it requires an intermediate reading device to be inserted into the USB interface of a computer.
A still further plastic card described in EP No. 1,429,283 of Apr. 6, 2004, has electrical contacts and an embedded microcircuit on one side of the card that is made in the form of a strip to be inserted into the interface socket of an external reading device. The prior art card (closest prior art of the second embodiment of this invention) is disadvantageous because it has a thickness matching a USB port, requiring extra quantities of material and besides it does not conform to the accepted thickness standards of cards used, for example, as visiting cards.